Police encourage drivers to check their eyesight

10th December 2007

All drivers attending a Speed Awareness or Call Divert Workshop at Upper Heyford will now be able to view an eyesight chart as part of the workshop which will give an indication of their ability to comply with the law. A free voucher (worth £30) for a sight test will be offered to those that appear to be possibly driving with defective eyesight.

The pilot will be run for three months at Heyford and, if successful, will be rolled out across DriveTech UK’s other sites in Crowthorne or Milton Keynes.

Malcolm Collis, Head of Thames Valley Police’s Roads Policing Specialist Units, said: “A recent survey, published by The Eyecare Trust, showed that more than 10% of drivers would fail a driving test due to poor sight if they retook it today. This means that over 3 million drivers in the UK today have eyesight that fails to meet even the basic minimum legal standard for driving.

“Drivers must be aware of the very real dangers created by defective eyesight. If you cannot see properly you are likely to miss important road information and could potentially cause a crash.

“It is important to have a regular eye examination, as people’s eyesight changes over time. The police can require you to take a roadside test if they suspect you have defective eyesight. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure that they can pass the number plate test at all times.

“Our educational schemes are focused on helping drivers both to be legal and to make the right decisions when they get behind the wheel. By offering these vouchers, we hope drivers will take their driving responsibilities seriously and therefore improve road safety for all”.

The sight test vouchers are provided by Optika Clulow opticians and the voucher will be accepted at their stores in Aylesbury, Maidenhead, Marlow, Newbury, Oxford, Reading, Swindon, Taunton & Weston Super Mare. Thames Valley Police or DriveTech will receive no revenues from this road safety initiative and there is no obligation to purchase any products from Optika Clulow.

Beth Lucas from Optika Clulow, said: “We are pleased to be involved with this forward thinking initiative to raise awareness of the importance and value of regular sight tests”.

The facility to self-assess their own eyesight and the provision of sight test vouchers will be provided to attendees at the educational workshop, managed and delivered on behalf of Thames Valley Police, by DriveTech (UK) plc.

Any driver can self-test their own eyesight by walking towards a car, obviously not their own, until they can clearly read the number plate and then measure that distance to the car. The law says you must be able to read a modern car number plate at 20 metres but if you are struggling at anywhere near that limit it is very sensible to have a proper test at any optician.

Editor's Notes

DriveTech (UK) plc is one of the UK’s leading providers of road risk management and driver assessment & education. We work both with organisations whose employees ‘drive for work’ and with members of the public who are offered education, as an alternative to prosecution, by the police.

DriveTech’s vision is ‘working together to eliminate road death and serious injuries’ by providing the most effective and innovative solutions, using education and technology, to minimise risk for all road users.

DriveTech (UK) has won the Institute of Transport Management’s (ITM) ‘Fleet Award for Driver Training’ in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and the ‘European Driver Safety Specialist’ award in 2005. In September 2007, the company was named the ITM’s ‘UK Driver Training Solutions Specialist’ for making ‘the most significant impact upon the Driver Training and Safety sector over the past decade’.

For further information, please contact David Richards at DriveTech (UK) at david.richards@drivetech.co.uk or 01344 467271.